Various assemblies for enhancing the performance of arrowheads have been proposed. The main design objective of an arrowhead is to enhance both the flying performance and the striking power of the arrow when hitting the target.
Small arrowheads have lower aerodynamics drag and provide accurate flight pattern, but at the same time, they have lower striking power compared to the larger arrowheads. Hunters have had to choose between small arrowheads that fly accurately, or large arrowheads that do not fly accurately but have higher striking power.
In order to overcome this issue and to have both power and accuracy, arrowheads with mechanically expandable blades are introduced. Mechanically expandable blades remain small in diameter when flying and before hitting the target. The arrowhead expands in diameter only upon contact with the target, creating a larger area of penetration and a wide cut surface.
The expandable blades, however, have several drawbacks. If the arrowhead with expandable blades hits the target at an angle, the blades may not open causing the arrow to ricochet away from the target. Further, as the expandable blades open only after penetrating into the animal's body, they have greater tendency to bounce off from the target than the fixed blades. Moreover, expandable blades are fragile compared to fixed blades and they may break upon contact, preventing them from normal functioning and making them unreliable in operation. These limitations have been circumvented by using a combination of fixed and expandable blades. Fixed blades in this case can be smaller in size and they can act as a support for the expandable blades to guarantee their proper functioning.
The following U.S. Patents are examples of arrowhead having both fixed and expandable blades. U.S. Pat. No. 6,322,464 B1 to Sestak titled HUNTING ARROWHEAD WITH BROADHEAD AND EXTENDABLE BLADES, introduced an arrowhead with one broadhead and two extendable blades, where the expandable blades pivot in a plane of movement perpendicular to the plane of the fixed broadhead blade. U.S. Pat. No. 6,554,727 B1 to Armstrong et al. titled DEFLECTION-RESISTANT ARROWHEAD HAVING BOTH FIXED AND MECHANICALLY EXPANDABLE BLADES, proposed an improved arrowhead with a spear-point blade mounted on the tip of the arrowhead to provide entry into the target before the expandable blades are deployed. In a related invention, U.S. Pat. No. 8,062,155 B2 to Butcher titled ARROWHEAD HAVING BOTH FIXED AND MECHANICALLY EXPANDABLE BLADES, the number of expandable blades is increased and two sets of expandable blades are located proximate to the base of the fixed blade portion to allow the fixed blade to penetrate the target before the expandable blades are deployed.
Although several mechanisms have been proposed for arrowheads having both fixed and moving blades, the design of the arrowheads can still be improved and modified for higher effectiveness. In the present invention, an arrowhead with multiple fixed and expandable blades is proposed, where the expandable blades are mounted between the fixed blades to ensure the opening of the expandable blades and the penetration of the hunting arrow into the animal's body.